USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II > Part 76
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1686, and who predeceased him, he had sons Captain Daniel, Benjamin, and Joseph, and two daughters.
CAPTAIN DANIEL HOWELL, eldest son of Daniel, and grandson of Thomas Howell, Esq., was born at "Livewell," in 1688. In 1710, about the time of his marriage, and influenced thereby, he settled at Amwell, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, on land given him by Colonel John Reading, whose only daughter, Elsie, he had married. A large farmer and miller, he was also engaged in the mining of copper, the earliest mining industry in New Jersey. On September 20, 1725, he was commissioned one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace and of the Courts of Hunterdon County, and on February 10, 1727, an Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, remaining in judicial office until his decease, in September or October, 1733. On the date of the last appointment he was also commissioned Captain in the regiment commanded by his brother-in-law, Colonel John Reading. By his marriage with Elsie, daughter of Colonel Reading, the elder, Captain Howell had two daughters, and sons, Daniel, John, Joseph, and Benjamin.
Colonel John Reading, founder of the eminent family of his surname in New Jersey, and father of the first native-born Governor of that colony, was, without doubt, an Englishman of gentle birth, who had enjoyed the advantages of educa- tion and social position. His notarial seal and family silver, bore the arms of the ancient Readings-Argent, three boars' heads couped sable. As early as 1677, he had purchased one-sixth of a proprietary of West New Jersey, and through subse- quent acquisitions, was one of the largest landowners in the colony. Settling first, about 1684, in Gloucester county, his conspicuous ability, learning and diligence, were at once recognized, and he became the foremost man in the county, serving as a member of the Assembly, Clerk of the County, Commissioner of Lands, and one of the Council of Proprietors of West Jersey. Shortly before 1709, he re- moved to Hunterdon county, and in that year styled himself "of Mount Amwell gentleman." His estate there lay along the Delaware river, covering the present towns of Stockton and Prallsville. His residence was at Stockton, where he established a landing to which a road was later projected, now known as the Old York Road. Crossing the Delaware at Reading's Landing, it was laid out on the bed of the old Indian path and was the early highway to New York. The civil honors which he had before held were increased in his new home. In 171I he was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court, and two years later, a member of the Governor's Council, which positions, as well as a colonelcy of militia, he held until his active and honorable life closed at his seat, "Mount Amwell," in October, 1717. He left to his only children-John Reading, afterwards Governor Reading, and Elsie Howell-a large estate, and the example of a useful life.
JOHN HOWELL, EsQ., second son of Captain Daniel Howell, by his wife, Elsie Reading, was born in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, August 8, 1721, and died at Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, July 27, 1808. He had settled at Chestnut Hill in deference to his uncle, Benjamin Howell, who constituted him executor of his will and residuary legatee and devisee thereunder. He was Justice of the Peace and of the Courts of Philadelphia County, and maintained the dignities of the office for some years, but finally declined to serve longer. His wife, Elizabeth Yerkes, by whom he had four daughters, and two sons-Daniel and Reading -- was a daughter of Herman Yerkes, a wealthy farmer of the Manor of Moreland, who had married, Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. John Watts, a native of Leeds,
citiem Fal koner
King Charles fit
one Hundred Year
Lewy Latein
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England, who, coming to Pennsylvania, entered the Baptist ministry, and in 1690, became pastor of the Lower Dublin Baptist Church, popularly known as the Pennepek Church, the first society of that faith in Philadelphia county. Mr. Watts was a man of scholarly attainments, and the Pennepek Church was for many years the centre of Baptist influence in the middle colonies, and it occupied a historic position as the oldest organization of the second largest Protestant de- nomination in America. The labors of Mr. Watts were not limited to his own parish. He visited scattered companies of Baptists in New Jersey, and for a time ministered to the congregation, now the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia.
DANIEL HOWELL, eldest son of John, Howell, Esq., was born in Chestnut Hill, about 1725, and died in Moreland township, Philadelphia (now Montgomery) county, in February, 1830. His life was spent in the cultivation of his large estate. He married his cousin, Elizabeth, daughter of Silas Yerkes, and grand- daughter of Herman and Elizabeth (Watts) Yerkes. The father, Silas Yerkes, a prominent landholder in Moreland, was a founder of the Union Library Company of Hatboro, one of the earliest library associations in Pennsylvania. Her mother, Hannah (Dungan) Yerkes, was the great-granddaughter of the Rev. Thomas Dungan, son of William Dungan, a merchant of London, by his wife, Frances Latham, widow of Lord Weston. Upon the early death of William Dungan, his widow, Frances, married (third), in 1637, Captain Jeremiah Clarke, with whom, accompanied by her four children, surnamed Dungan, she journeyed to Rhode Island, then beginning to attract wealthy settlers. There, Captain Clarke at once became eminent as one of the founders of Newport, and in the general military and civil affairs of the colony. He died in 1651, and Mrs. Clarke married (fourth) the Rev. William Vaughan, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Newport. The position held by the family in Newport, gave Thomas Dungan an opportunity to enjoy the best educational advantages, and it is thought that he came under the instruction of the renowned Roger Williams, who established a school in Rhode Island for the "practice of Hebrew, Latin, French, and Dutch." Thomas Dungan imbibed the principles of the Baptist faith and became a clergyman. In 1682 he removed to Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where he founded a Baptist church, the first in the province, and the first English church outside of the Society of Friends, and there his ministrations continued until his death in 1688. His mother, Frances Latham had been a remarkable woman, and through her marriages, and the alli- ances of her children, her family wielded, for more than a century, a powerful influence on the public and social life of Rhode Island. Baptized at Kempston, Bed fordshire, England, February 15, 1609, she was buried during the first week of September, 1677, in Newport's ancient graveyard, where a quaint stone still tells her brief story. Her father, Lewis Latham, of Elstow, county Bedford, was of a cadet branch of the Lathams of Latham House, county Lancaster, and he bore the same arms. Bred in the gentle art of falconry, concerning which his brother, Symon Latham, had already written the standard work, he was in 1627, appointed Sergeant Falconer to King Charles I., and doubtless so remained until his decease, which is noted thus in the Elstow parish register: "Lewys Lathame, gent. buried ye 15 May, 1655." A portrait, by Sir Peter Lely, painted in his ad- vanced years, and brought to Rhode Island by his daughter, Frances, has since remained in the possession of his descendants. It now hangs in the art gallery of the late William L. Elkins, a descendant in the ninth generation, whose sketch
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follows elsewhere. In one corner of the canvas are the words: "The effigy of the Honourable Lewis Latham, faulconer to his Majesty King Charles I, who died at the age of 100 years." The portrait bears the Latham arms, clearly a part of the original painting, but much faded by time. It may, however, be described as: Or, per fess indented azure, three plates in chief. · Crest-an eagle displayed looking to the sinister, or, above a child's cradle, gu. A child was found in an eagle's nest on the Latham estate and adopted by one of the family, so runs the tale-and the crest perpetuates the pretty legend.
Mrs. George Elkins was also descended from the Rev. John Wing, who was graduated in 1603 from Queen's College, Oxford; ordained chaplain to the Mer- chant Adventurers of England, at Hamburg, and later the first English pastor at the Hague. He enjoyed a considerable degree of distinction as a theologian, and his published writings afford proof of his scholarship. Another notable ancestor was the Rev. Stephen Bachiler, who was graduated at St. John's, Oxford, in 1584; took holy orders; became Vicar of Holy Cross and St. Peter's at Wherwell, county Hants; renounced his living and came to New England in 1632, where he was later- settled over the churches of Lynn, Sandwich, Hampton, and Casco, respectively. His long and stormy theological life ended at Hackney, London.
Mr. George Elkins died at Philadelphia in 1849. A stained glass window, ex- quisite in design and workmanship, in the south wall of Christ Church, bears the following: "In memory of George Elkins, born July 11, 1786, baptized in this church by Bishop White, August 15, 1786; died September 11, 1849." The upper section' of the window portrays, in richly tinted pieces, the Council of Nice, A. D. 325. The lower portion, in which appears the figure of Bishop White, bears the inscription, "Organization of the American Church in Christ Church, 1785."
The busy present is apt to overlook its debt to the past ; the man of to-day to undervalue inherited powers. 'The achievement of the moment seems larger than yesterday's, and a résumé of that which is behind is, therefore, germain to a right appreciation of current forces.
WILLIAM LUKENS ELKINS, seventh child and youngest son of George Elkins, by his wife, Susanna Howell, was born near Wheeling, West Virginia, May 2, 1832, and died at his seat, at Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, November 7, 1903. In 1840 he accompanied his parents on their return to Philadelphia, and received his education in that city. In 1853, on attaining his majority, he formed a co-partner- ship with Peter Sayboldt, under the firm name of Sayboldt & Elkins, commission merchants, which business later passed under the control of Mr. Elkins, and was disposed of by him at the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1862 he was attracted to the oil regions of Pennsylvania, where already men of brains and enterprise were reaping rich reward in drawing from the fruitful storehouses of nature a product even then of high value, but destined to become one of the great staples of the world. In these regions, and in conjunction with the boldest and most successful operators, Mr. Elkins labored for some years, organizing many com- panies, sinking many wells, and producing largely of petroleum. He was quick to perceive that the refining of oil for illuminating purposes could be made a profitable industry if conducted on a sufficiently large scale to warrant extensive purchases of the crude material, and its manufacture under economical conditions, and to this end, he established a plant in Philadelphia, to which he soon added the works of several rivals, until finally the Belmont Oil Works were leased, and the
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absolute control of the oil-refining business in Philadelphia was secured. Mr. Elkins pushed this industry in other places than Philadelphia. At one time he owned the Riverside oil refining works on the Alleghany river, and in 1876 he became a partner in the Standard Oil Company, disposing of his interest therein in 1880.
He also turned his attention to street railways as an investment, embarking largely of his capital in the stock of Philadelphia companies. Believing that a consolidation of these roads would lead to better service at a reduced cost of operating, he was instrumental in bringing about the organization of the Phila- delphia Traction Company, which embraced a majority of the street railways of the city, and later, of the Union Traction Company, since leased to the Rapid Transit Company, but which at the time of leasing. embraced complete control of all the roads. His success in the street railway field in Philadelphia prompted him to apply the same methods and systems to other cities, with the result that in a few years he became heavily interested in the street railways of New York, Balti- more, Pittsburg, Chicago, and other flourishing centres of population. He was also a leading spirit in organizing the United Gas Improvement Company of Philadelphia, which giant corporation controls not only the lighting of that city, but many score of plants for the manufacture of illuminating gas in different Amer- ican cities.
With such wide and well-tested experience, and after such brilliant successes, it was quite natural that Mr. Elkins should become known and respected in business circles, and a power in the industrial world. Many corporations sought to obtain his valuable services as an officer or a member of the board of directors, but he contented himself with assuming duties of this character in those with which he was identified by his own choice.
Some years before his death, Mr. Elkins turned his attention to real estate in- vestments in Philadelphia and its vicinity, and in company with his esteemed friend and business associate, Mr. P. A. B. Widener, of that city, purchased large tracts of land in the northern section, and erected several thousand houses, a de- velopment in line with the unique system of a home for every family which ob- tains in Philadelphia, noted throughout the land as a "City of homes."
Mr. Elkins was deeply interested in the advancement of art in the United States, and instituted a prize of five thousand dollars for the most meritorious painting exhibited by an American artist at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. His own gallery was one of the finest in Philadelphia, and contained many noted ex- amples of the old masters, and choice selections from the works of leading modern ones. In 1900, he issued in two quarto volumes a sumptuous de luxe catalogue of his collection containing engraved copies of one hundred and thirty- two paintings.
While Mr. Elkins ever took a keen interest in public affairs, he never sought public office, nor did he hold such, with the exception of a seat in Common Coun- cils of Philadelphia in the Centennial year ; aide-de-camp, with rank of colonel, on the staff of Governor Hartranft, and a Commissioner to represent Philadelphia at the International Expositions at Vienna in 1873, and at Paris, in 1900.
He was for many years a member of the Board of City Trusts, which body has in charge the management of the famous Girard Estate, an active promoter and director of the Pennsylvania Commercial Museums, of the National Export Ex-
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position of 1899, and for over twenty years a director of the Pennsylvania Rail- road. He was also in the directorate of many other large corporations, among which may be named: The Philadelphia and Erie, Schuylkill Valley, and Fort Pitt railroad companies ; the Union Traction Company of Philadelphia, the Consoli- dated Traction Company of New Jersey, the Metropolitan Traction Company of New York, the Baltimore Traction Company, the Philadelphia Company of Pitts- burgh, the West Side and North Traction companies of Chicago, the United Gas Improvement Company of Philadelphia, the Electric Company of America, the Electric Storage Battery Company, the Continental Tobacco Company, the Amer- ican Surety Company, the Fourth Street National Bank of Philadelphia, the Land Title and Trust Company and Commercial Trust Company of Philadelphia. He was also a member of the Fairmount Park Art Association, Union League, Art and Country clubs of Philadelphia, Germantown Cricket Club, Maryland Club of Baltimore, Manhattan Club of New York, and the Historical, Genealogical, and Colonial societies of Pennsylvania.
Upon his death, one of the leading newspapers of his home city, thus mentioned him : "By the death of William L. Elkins, Philadelphia has lost one of its most widely known citizens. Without any assistance given him at the beginning of his career other than that which comes from restless energy and the ability to perform and grasp promising opportunities for advancement, he became one of the leading financiers of the country and reached the front rank in the direction of great enterprises. His business versatility enabled him to give personal atten- tion to very many varied activities, success in any one of which would have stamp- ed him as a man of remarkable achievement : * Few Americans have reached the commanding place he occupied in the business world. In this sphere and in the wide circle of his devoted personal friendships he will be missed." Mr. Elkins was an Episcopalian, a pew holder in Christ Church, Philadelphia, and a vestry- man of St. Paul's, Elkins Park.
He was a quiet but generous giver to charitable and philanthropic objects, and among his benefactions was the gift of a liberal sum for the erection of the pres- ent home of the Bucks County Historical Society, at Doylestown. By his will he made provision for the founding a home in Philadelphia for the orphans of mem- bers of the Masonic Order, which provision became inoperative under the law on account of the will being executed within thirty days of his death, but his family carried out his intentions by erecting "The William L. Elkins Masonic Orphanage for Girls of Pennsylvania," at Broad Street and the Boulevard, at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars.
Mr. Elkins married, January 21, 1857, Maria Louise Broomall, born Angust 30, 1832, daughter of James Broomall, of Chester county, Pennsylvania, by his wife, Rachel Baker. Mrs. Elkins is descended from John Broomall, who came to Pennsylvania the same year in which William Penn first arrived, and from George Maris, many years a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, and in 1693 of the Provincial Council, and Henry Hayes, Esq., also a member of the Assem- bly, and from 1717 till 1740, one of the Justices of the Courts of Chester County.
Mrs. Elkins is a member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and of the Pennsylvania Society of the Colonial Dames of America, and of various boards of Philadelphia's philanthropic and educational institutions.
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Children of William Lukens Elkins by his wife, Maria Louise Broomall :
GEORGE W. ELKINS, b. Sept. 26, 1858; m. Stella E. McIntire ;
IDA AMELIA ELKINS, b. Sept. 26, 1859; d. 1904; m., as second wife, Sidney Frederick Tyler;
ELEANORE ELKINS, b. Sept. 21, 1861; m. George Dunton Widener;
WILLIAM LUKENS ELKINS, JR., b. Sept. 26, 1863; d. March 13, 1892; m. Kate Felton.
GEORGE W. ELKINS, eldest child of William Lukens Elkins, after completing his education, entered upon a business career, and became one of the most active and prosperous of the younger business men of Philadelphia. Since the death of his father he has practically withdrawn from business pursuits to care for large trusts that have devolved upon him, one of these being the management of his father's estate. He was president of the Elkins Gas and Coal Company and treas- urer of the Elkins Manufacturing and Gas Company, and is now president of the Barrett Manufacturing Company, and a director of the Land Title and Trust Company, the Union Traction Company, the Vulcanite Portland Cement Com- pany, and of many other corporations, and is a member of the Art, Union League, Racquet, Bachelors' Barge, Corinthian Yacht, Country, Philadelphia Cricket, and Huntingdon Valley Country clubs, and of the Metropolitan Club of New York. He married, November 17, 1881, Stella E., daughter of the late Colonel John K. McIntire, by his wife, Evaline Von Tuyl.
Colonel McIntire was a leading banker and capitalist at Dayton, Ohio.
Mrs. Elkins is a member of the Acorn Club of Philadelphia and of the Phila- delphia Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution.
Children of George W. Elkins by his wife, Stella E. McIntire:
William McIntire Elkins, b. Sept. 3, 1883; m. Elizabeth Wolcott Tuckerman, dau. of Bayard Tuckerman, Esq., by his wife, Anna Cotton Smith, of Boston, Mass .; he grad- uated at Harvard Univ. in 1905; is a member of the firm of Elkins & Krumbahrr, bankers and brokers, and of the Union League, Markham, Racquet, Harvard and Huntingdon Valley Country clubs, and has two children-William L. Elkins and Elizabeth Wolcott Elkins;
Stella Von Tuy! Elkins, b. March 16, 1884; m. George Frederick Tyler, son of Sydney Frederick Tyler, by his first wife; he was graduated at Harvard Univ. in 1905, and is engaged in the banking business, and is a member of the Philadelphia, Racquet, Phila- delphia Cricket, Harvard and other clubs;
George W. Elkins, Jr., b. March 3, 1886; m. Natilie C. Fox, dau. of Caleb F. Fox; is engaged in farming and is a member of the Union League, Racquet Club and the Huntingdon Valley Country Club;
Louise Broomall Elkins, b. April 13, 1890.
IDA AMELIA ELKINS, second child and eldest daughter of William Lukens El- kins, married, March 8, 1888, Sidney Frederick Tyler, son of George Frederick Tyler, Esq., by his wife, Louisa Richmond Drake. He was graduated at Har- vard in 1872; studied law in Philadelphia and was admitted to the bar in 1878; later became a financier ; was for six years president of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad Company, and for several years president of the Fourth Street National Bank of Philadelphia, of which he was a founder ; was a member of the reorgan- ization committee of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, the Savan- nah and Western Railway Company, and the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Rail- road Company ; a director in many large corporations, and a member of the Soci- ety of Colonial Wars, Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution, Military
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Order of the Loyal Legion, and of the Philadelphia, Rittenhouse, and numerous other clubs.
ELEANORE ELKINS, third child and youngest daughter of William Lukens El- kins, married, November 1, 1883, George Dunton Widener, son of Peter A. Browne Widener, Esq., by his wife, Hannah Josephene Dunton. Mrs. Widener serves on the board of several of Philadelphia's charitable institutions, and is a member of the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America, and the Acorn Club of Philadelphia. Mr. Widener, upon the completion of his education, identified himself with the vast railway and other corporate interest in which his father was engaged, and has come to fill a prominent position in the business and financial world. He is president of the Philadelphia Traction, Union Passenger, and Continental railway companies of Philadelphia, and is a director of the Phila- delphia Rapid Transit, the Union Traction, the Land Title and Trust, and the Electric Storage Battery companies, of Philadelphia, the Twenty-third Street Railway Company of New York, the American Tobacco Company, and of numer- ous other corporations, and is a member of the Art, Union League, Racquet, Rose Tree Hunt, Country, Germantown Cricket, and Corinthian Yacht clubs, of Phila- delphia, the Huntingdon Valley Country Club, and the New York Yacht Club. Mr. Widener is also active in philanthropic work, and supervises the management of the Widener Memorial Home for Crippled Children, one of the most unique and valuable charities of Philadelphia, founded by his family as a memorial to his mother.
Children of George Dunton Widener by his wife, Eleanore Elkins:
Henry Elkins Widener, b. Jan. 3, 1885; was graduated at Harvard Univ., in the class of 1907, and became there a member of the Hasty Pudding Club, Phi Delta Psi, D. K. E., Institute of 1770, and the Fencing Club; he is also a member of the Grolier Club of New York, the Bibliophile Society of Boston, the Philobiblon, Union League, Racquet and Harvard clubs of Philadelphia, and the Huntingdon Valley Country Club;
George Dunton Widener, Jr., b. March 11, 1889;
Eleanore Elkins Widener.
WILLIAM LUKENS ELKINS, JR., youngest child of William Lukens Elkins, was educated at Swarthmore College, and after leaving that institution, actively and successfully engaged in business. In 1886 he organized the Pennsylvania Iron Works, of which he was president, and also became president of the Pittsburgh Gas and Coke Company, the Philadelphia Gas and Manufacturing Company, and vice-president of the New England Gas and Coal Company of Boston. He was also a director of the Third National Bank and the Seventeenth and Nineteenth Streets Passenger Railway Company of Philadelphia, the Syracuse Gas and Coal Company of New York, and of other large corporations, and was a member of the Union League, Racquet, Philadelphia Gun, Germantown Cricket, and Cor- inthian Yacht clubs of Philadelphia, and the New York Yacht Club. He married, April 18, 1888, Kate Felton, who survives him. She is a daughter of Hon. Charles Norton Felton, who served as treasurer of the United States Mint in San Fran- cisco, member of the legislature of California, member of Congress, and member of the United States Senate.
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